Amazon's touchscreen Echo will go up for pre-order May 9 for $229

Update: We now have more details on Amazon's touchscreen-enabled Echo, courtesy of AFTVNews. The device will be called the Echo Show, and will retail for $229 on June 28. Pre-orders kick off from tomorrow, May 9, in the U.S.

Original story follows:

People have been saying that the new Amazon Echo will have a touchscreen and let you make video calls since early 2017. We've also seen some very official-looking renders of what is being touted as the next Echo, complete with a big screen, a video camera, and a speaker chamber. Today the Wall Street Journal jumps in and says everything we've heard is true. And we might see it as early as Tuesday (May 9).

This is probably going to happen. And soon.

More importantly, what does this mean for Amazon customers and Alexa? A touchscreen brings a whole new way to interact with Amazon's assistant, and that might make things complicated or make them awesome. And Amazon has no infrastructure in place to make video calling a thing, so are they building that out or will they partner with someone like Microsoft or Kik?